Mirrored file photos of Chuck Meyers Jessland and the Juniata Valley Green Hornets achieved an 8-1 record in the playoffs.

Editor's note: This is the second part of a two-part series in Glendale last week. Despite the small number of people, this team decided to oppose the cooperative, and this week two schools, Juniata Valley and Williamsburg, how Cooperatives should be formed this season.

Alexandria-Early August usually marks the beginning of an adjustment to high school rugby for teams around the area.

For players from Juniata Valley and children who are still interested in Williamsburg football, it is not just the hot weather that needs to adapt this season.

The Williamsburg Community High School board voted unanimously on July 29 to pass a sports cooperation agreement with Juniata Valley, which left a small margin for the Green Hornets and Blue Pirates to merge into one team. window.

"A lot of us don't want it to happen," said Jake Johnson, a senior outside line at Juniata Valley. "I know that when the children from Williamsburg first came, they felt the same way when we talked to them. But we are already connected and have a lot of fun together. We became teammates, just like we were together in the first place. It’s the same as going to school."

Although there were some tense moments in the first few weeks of training camp, Juniata Valley has thrived and ended the regular season with a score of 8-1, and won the top seed in the 6th Division 1A playoffs. .

"The whole team is on the sidelines," said Green Hornets senior forward Jonathan Butch. "They are our opponents. It took us a few weeks to realize that the only way for us to have a good season is for us to work hard together and play well together. Over time, we started to each other I understand that now I am almost the best friend of the entire team. We are as close as they have been in Juniata Valley since kindergarten."

Less than a week after the voting for the establishment of the cooperative, the old members of the Juniata Valley roster and the new players from Williamsburg participated in the Inter-County Conference Media Day.

"Initially, I didn't want to play at all," said Dylan Hartman, a student from Williamsburg and senior lineman in Juniata Valley. "But that was my senior year and I decided I just want to play football again and see what we can do here."

Every day after school, the Williamsburg players will walk to the waiting bus outside and take 14 or 15 football players to the training facility in Juniata Valley. They come back at about 6:30 every night.

"It takes a little time to get used to it at first," Hartman said. "Then we started talking to some other kids. About four weeks later, we all got along well and the matter was settled. They are our brothers. Victory makes our relationship closer."

The Green Hornets started the game with a hasty defeat of Tasishan. During this period they received heavy penalties, but a week later they responded with a statement defeating Tier 3A Tyrone.

"You can see it is under construction," Juniata Valley coach Bill Musser said. "Before we really understand our athletic abilities as a team and the athletic abilities of each player, we went through the game stages, melee and the first few games. Even today, you will see them still learning from each other."

Throughout the season in charge of former Williamsburg quarterback Lambert Palmer (Lambert Palmer), success continued to grow, and the Green Hornets were the favorites to emerge from the fiercely competitive 6 Division 1A playoffs. One of the team.

"A lot of children play with each other in other sports and know each other because of this," said former Williamsburg head coach and current Juniata Valley assistant Ryan Hillerman. "But once we came here, it didn't take long for the children to become children and solve the problem. The children are already great. Lambert and Dylan have always been leaders and have been in this situation for years. The young children set a good example, and the children of these two groups as a whole do very well in this regard."

Hileman said that he respects Glendale coach Dave "Spank" Trexler. He led the Vikings to the Division 6 1A quarterfinals and defeated Penns Manor with a roster of about 20 players last week.

A year ago, when he led the Williamsburg team to their first playoff victory since 1989, he was in the same position, and then the Blue Pirates lost to Glendale’s next opponent, Homer center. .

Hileman did his best to build the momentum of last season, but this year only about 15 players signed up for the Williamsburg school team competition.

"When you are a coach in a small community like Williamsburg, if we have the ability to keep our team in our school, any coach will agree that we would rather stay alone," Hileman said. "That said, we looked at everything and realized that it was impossible. We wanted to do the best thing for the children. We wanted to provide them with the opportunity to continue playing without having to give up certain games.

"I owe all the credit to Spank in the world. He didn't work with too many players. I knew they had to deal with some confiscation issues this year. They played a game with 14 kids. My hat is given to He did. After they won the playoffs, I sent him a congratulatory text on Friday night. I think the world of what he did there, I know if we have a chance, we will do the same."

Palmer said the decision was easier because Juniata Valley itself has a talented lineup, and the co-op did not push the Green Hornets to 2A, which would make them ineligible for the playoffs.

"We know they have good athletes here, and if we merge, we will have a very good team," Palmer said. "It's great to have (Johnson) pitching. I can trust him one-on-one and throw it to him. Most of the time, he will accept it."

Hileman pointed out how close the players in Williamsburg and Juniata Valley have become, and expressed his hope that the same thing will happen across the entire community that was once a rival.

"We brought it to the last second," Hileman said. "In the last two weeks before we started, this co-op really came together. We did everything we could to get more players to play. We talked to the community, but it was really difficult. When you come from such a small community At the time, sports is an important part of your lifestyle, including football, basketball and baseball, and our community always stands up and supports us.

"Friday night, regardless of our record, people are supporting us. This is a community event every Friday. Having to do it elsewhere without that is obviously a big change. It affects the community. Many people, but I hope that as we leave, the two communities will come together and share our success together."

Williamsburg originally intended to return a few talented players from a team that won the playoffs with a 5-4 record last year. Obviously if the Blue Pirates can keep their team going, most of these players will Starting.

After the cooperation, when these players began to compete for jobs that the Green Hornet players might think they got during the offseason, Juniata Valley had an awkward situation.

"There are a lot of players who have problems (may lose their starting job for Williamsburg players)," Butch said. "But in my opinion, it is a good thing to have more first-team players on the team to help each other get better. Finally, if you show your skills in practice and you are good enough to start, then you should have a starter. Location."

Musser said he made it very clear that no one will be awarded a starting position.

"The children who came in worked on the Williamsburg project, and they worked all summer," Moser said. "Our conversation has always been that no starting position is fixed. You have to keep earning it, and this year is no exception. We just have a few different children working for these positions."

One of the positions contested is arguably the most important-quarterback. Palmer eventually claimed that it was a job and had performed well in the Green Hornets.

"We are not sure how things will develop because we did not choose quarterbacks 100% before the start of the season," Musser said. "With Lambert's arrival, this makes us more flexible in certain things. He showed football wisdom, which makes us rely on him more than we thought."

The players and coaches of the Juniata Valley football project are not worried that there will be enough people to participate in the game on Friday night. They focus on dominating the game every week.

"Starting to adapt to the high temperature environment from the first week, our goal is to participate in the 6th Division Championship and win," Johnson said. "We have always wanted that. We have been working on it as a team, and we are doing our best to achieve it."

The Green Hornets only lost this season to Division 5 1A champion North Bedford, 7-6, but they rebounded for the first time since 1994, beating Bellwood Antis.

"The biggest key is that the kids just want to play football," Moser said. "This is indeed what they decided to do. In the game against North Bedford, we may let some outside things enter and interfere with it, but after that, the children are determined to come here to play."

Seven of Palmer's 11 touchdown passes were passed to Johnson.

"Palmer's football is very good," Johnson said. "He knows how to put the ball in the right place. So far, we have been working hard."

Juniata Valley will host Conemaugh Valley tonight. If they win this week, they will play against West Shamokin or Portage in the semifinals at home.

In the past three seasons, the Green Hornets have won seven playoff games, including the 2018 Division 6 championship.

"The playoffs are different every year," Moser said. "We have achieved some success, but we cannot rely on success. We must understand how we succeeded and where we succeeded. Hope we can build on this foundation."

All victories tend to make embarrassing situations more attractive.

"Part of me wish I would still play for Williamsburg," Palmer said. "But since we have achieved such great success as the No. 1 seed and everything, I don't mind."

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